Exploring Early Korean Popular Music through Lectures

National Museum of Korean Contemporary History
Lecture Series for the Public Begins on the 28th

'Arirang' record (sung by Kyunghee Park, 1933, Nitto Phonograph Company)/National Museum of Korean Contemporary History.

A lecture series that looks back on the early era of Korean popular music—including Yoon Sim-deok’s “Hymn of Death” released in 1926 and the theme song of the film “Arirang”—will be held. The “Visible Modern History, Audible Modern History” program, organized by the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History, will take place every Wednesday evening from the 28th of this month to the 18th of next month. The program will feature listening sessions of gramophone records (SP) from the 1910s to 1940s, expert lectures, and live performances.

On the first day, which is the 28th, Professor Lee Junhee will explain the introduction of gramophones and the musical genres of the 1920s. On the 4th of next month, music critic Lee Soyoung will introduce three major early Western music records: art songs, changga (singing to popular melodies), and children's songs. On the 11th of next month, Professor Kwon Dohee will analyze the modernization of three major traditional music genres—new folk songs, creative pansori, and changgeuk (Korean traditional opera). The final session on the 18th of next month will feature a live performance by Bumi Choi’s Music Odyssey, combined with commentary by Professor Lee Junhee.

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